At The Grolier Club through  February 7, 2015

Powerful narrative, unforgettable characters, illustration that stirs the imagination, and insights that engage the mind and heart — literature for children is forged from the same enduring elements as literature for adults. Children's books with these qualities often shine for generations, with some achieving landmark fame. A few such books ultimately go on to enter the canon of classics of children's literature.

The Grolier Club’s milestone public exhibition, One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature, showcases one hundred books of this caliber, printed from 1600 to 2000. On view through February 7, 2015, the show includes such beloved books as Robinson Crusoe, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, Peter Rabbit, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Winnie-the-Pooh, Charlotte's Web, The Cat in the Hat, Where the Wild Things Are, and Harry Potter. These classics and others — many famous today, some only in their time — will bring smiles of enjoyment to adults and children alike.

The curator and children's book authority Chris Loker has secured loans from major institutions throughout North America for this exhibition. Among them are the American Antiquarian Society; Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University; Cotsen Children's Library, Princeton University; Houghton Library, Harvard University; The Morgan Library & Museum; as well as numerous distinguished private collections.

The books are displayed according to key themes in children’s literature: Fairy Tales & Fables, Faith, Learning, Nursery Rhymes, Poetry, Girls & Boys, Animals, Fantasy, Adventure, Novelties, and Toys. This organization allows viewers to see genres of literature for children ranging from early forms of instructional and devotional primers to exuberant expressions of rhymes, tales, stories, novels, and picture books. First or early editions are displayed wherever possible, some of  them  extremely rare.

The oldest book in the exhibition, Orbis Pictus, published in Nuremberg in 1658, is a bilingual schoolbook in simple encyclopedic form for young students of Latin (the text is in both Latin and German.) Used for two centuries throughout Europe, it is an early effort at integrated text and pictures, and thus shows a pivotal step in the development of the illustrated book for children.The New-England Primer is one of only two extant copies printed in 1727 (the earliest known surviving edition.) In print for over 200 years, this was the first reader for many young Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries, and thus one of the most frequently read books in the United States.

Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (Vol. 2), published in London in 1744, is an exceptionally important book, although not well known today. It is the first known collection of English nursery rhymes, gathering together the earliest recorded versions of ditties crooned to babies such as "Sing a Song of Sixpence," "Hickory, Dickory, Dock" (here titled "The Mouse ran up ye clock"), "Mary Mary Quite Contrary," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," and "Cock Robin," among others.

Songs of Innocence, Written, illustrated and published by William Blake in London, 1789

Songs of Innocence, written, illustrated and published by William Blake in London in 1789, contains his short lyric poems for children. It is the third in Blake's series of illuminated books — the earliest examples of artist's books. Created by this 18th century British visionary, poet, author, painter, illustrator, printer and engraver, this copy is one of fewer than forty manuscript copies made, has never been out of print, and is an artistic masterpiece.

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